Nightmares After Dark
by Perfection09
Summary: Katie's entire life was a lie. She finds out John Winchester was her real father and goes off to find him but finds a twin, a big brother and a life she could never have imagined. During a not so usual hunting gig they meet Lauren, a girl with secrets.
1. Lies

Hello everyone! So this is my first fanfiction on and I haven't been writing in English that long so excuse me for some mistakes! I'm writing this story along with Homesick, as Supernatural fans we decided to do a fanfic about it. I hope you'll like it, let us know what you think! Thank you for reading!

xx Perfection

**One – Lies**

**8 MONTHS AGO**

_Dearest Katie, _

_I do not know when you'll get to read this,__ or if you'll ever get this at all..but if you're reading this now I'm sure you're old and wise enough to understand what I have to tell you. Maybe you've noticed you don't quite fit in with your family, and I'm not aware of what they did or did not tell you. But you're parents are not you're real parents. Six months after you were born your mother died, the life me and your brothers were going to lead was no place for an angel like you. I could hardly let you go but knew it was the right thing to do. I couldn't raise a baby girl in this environment, I can hardly keep your brothers safe. You have two brothers, one of them is your twin brother Sam. I know it was cruel to separate twins like that, but I figured it was best to separate you at a young age before you got in danger. Dean is your big brother, he's six years older than you and more mature than any child should've ever been. You'd like them both and if they knew about you I am sure they'd like you too. Dean thinks you died along with your mother, I never mentioned you survived. I know this may come as a shock to you, but I am sure you're a strong young woman and you'll be able to forgive Noelle for keeping this from you. I told her not to tell you until you were ready for it, so the blame is on me. Some day I hope you will forgive me. I know this letter doesn't quite make up for what I did and how you must feel after all these years. This all was for the best, the world I live in is deadly and dangerous. Noelle was a friend of your mother's and offered her help, she loves you more than anything in the world. I do too. I am so very sorry. You'll always be my little girl and I'll miss you every day you're not with me. _

_John Winchester, _

_Your father. _

It took a while to sink in. But when it did she couldn't believe it. Her entire life had been a lie. Her single mother had lied to her all this time. So many questions started coming up but she didn't know if she was ready for all the answers. "Mom!" she yelled so loud that her mother came running upstairs worried something was wrong.

"What is it honey?"

"What's this?!" with tears in her eyes Katie held up the old piece of paper. According to the date in the left corner, it was written just seven months after she was born.

"Katie.." Noelle Ford sat down on her 'daughter's' bed and looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

"Is this true?" Katie's voice was scarily calm, as if all the emotions were just seconds from bursting out of her body.

"Katie.." Noelle tried again.

"Tell me, _mom, _is this true?!" she got up and threw the piece of paper to the ground.

"Yes. It is. I told him not to write that but he insisted on it, in case you needed to know the truth."

"In case?! So you were all planning on lying to me my entire life?!"

"No Katie you don't understand.."

"I understand that I'm not your daughter." She knew it was a little harsh but she couldn't wrap her mind around the idea this wasn't her family.

"And _brother's_ mom? Why couldn't you tell me? I would've loved you anyway."

"I couldn't."

"No, you didn't _want_ to. There's a difference." Katie started to pack her belongings planning to go over to a friends house.

"Katie listen!"

"No. More lies?" Katie wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her shirt.

"What are you going to do?" Noelle sounded heartbroken as Katie kept packing her belongings and threw her backpack over her shoulder.

"I'll just stay at Lena's house for a while…until I figure out what I want..I'm just confused..I don't know what to do anymore.."

"I understand if you need time…"

"I hardly believe that." Katie half-whispered.

It didn't get easier after being away for two weeks. Katie could hardly forgive Noelle for keeping this from her, but somewhere she started to understand that it wasn't Noelle who had wanted to keep this from her. After reading her father's letter over and over she realized he didn't want her to know, this letter was a last resort solution. After three weeks she decided to call her 'mother'.

"Noelle Ford." The voice of Noelle didn't sound motherly to Katie anymore. She didn't know how to think of Noelle at this point, she'd always thought of her like her mother even though they looked nothing alike. Even though they had nothing in common. She had dark hair and eyes, Noelle was blonde with blue eyes. She was curious and studious while Noelle never really cared about studies. And then there were these strange nightmares and eerie feelings when she was by herself, something Noelle never thought much of.

"It's Katie." Her voice was but a whisper.

"Katie thank god, are you alright? Are you still at Lena's?"

"Yes I am. But I won't be for long though."

"What do you mean? I am so sorry Katie I wanted to tell you but I was so scared of losing you and.." the pleading went on for five minutes. Five long minutes of apologies and 'I love you's.

"Noelle!" Katie interrupted her mid-sentence.

"You can't even call me mom anymore?" Noelle sounded upset, angry almost.

"I'm going to look for my father."

"Katie no! He asked me not to let you go search for him. He doesn't want you to. I don't know what his deal is Katherine but he doesn't want you near. He has asked me explicitly."

"Well that sucks for him because I want to find him."

"Katherine.."

"No. I'm going and you cannot stop me. I'll call you when I feel like it."

"Stop it young lady!"

"I'm twenty-three years old, it's about time I find out what my real family is like! I can take care of myself Noelle."

"Please Katie."

"Goodbye _mother_."

And just like that she hung up the phone, not knowing what was ahead of her.

For two months she searched all parts of America to try and find her father. Nobody ever heard of him, and the few who did were strangely mysterious and didn't want to tell her anything. Some men grinned dangerously when she told them she was looking for her father John Winchester, some women were startled. She didn't understand, how could she have guessed who her father really was? It wasn't until she found them, until she found out what they were meant to do..

**NOW**

"Katie I know you're a girl and stuff but you're really wasting our time." Dean Winchester half-screamed at the bathroom door of a cheap motel in Nebraska.

"Who knew brothers could be such a pain in the ass." Katie came out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

"I knew." Sam raised his hand from off the bed grinning as Dean threw a pillow at his head.

"Very funny smarty-pants."

It had been six strange months since she found Sam and Dean. And because of the circumstances they bonded quite quickly. Finding out the brothers you never knew were hunting supernatural scum was something she still had to get used to, but going through several near death experiences, ghosts, demons, and vampires made her pretty fond of her well trained brothers. She had felt more safe than she'd ever felt in her entire life.

"Are you going to pack your belongings or do I have to call Noelle to come and get you?" Dean was impatient as Katie tried to irritate him by packing her stuff as slowly as she could. Last night Sam read a strange article in the news paper on a mysterious homicide in Auburn Nebraska.

"That's so not funny." Katie gave him a death glare.

"Did you even talk to her since you found us?" Sam sat up on the bed zipping up his bag.

"I called her last month." Katie felt a slight sense of guilt.

"You shouldn't be so hard on her, she only tried to protect you from all of this you know." Katie couldn't appreciate Sam's all too nice character sometimes, mostly when it conflicted with what she thought.

"She lied to me for 23 years, I can be mad at her for at least one year." She could hear Dean laugh while he was looking for the keys of his car in the pockets of his leather jacket.

"Are we ready Olsen twins?" Dean grabbed his green army bag and gestured Sam and Katie to follow him.

"You go ahead and wait for me in the car while I check out alright?" he said.

"I really do think you should call your mom." Sam said looking back from the passenger seat. Katie was on the backseat staring out of the window.

"She's not my mother."

"Katie listen, I'm really glad you found us and that we're getting to know you and all, but I really do think you should call Noelle more often, she raised you and cares about you..it's not fair to leave her in doubt all the time."

"I'll call her tonight, time zones."

"Alrighties kids, all set to go?" Dean opened the door and sat down behind the wheel, Katie couldn't blame him for the fact that no one was allowed to drive his car but Dean himself. The car was amazing. While he started the roaring engine he put on typical Dean-music. Katie could get used to road trips like this, the only thing that upset her was that her brothers left her in motel rooms to hunt supernatural 'things'. It wasn't exactly like she wanted to go with them –yet- but it freaked her out that she might lose them, the only real family she had. Sam enlightened Dean on all the ins and outs concerning the homicide in Auburn, sometimes they paused knowing it was slightly awkward with Katie in the back. But they had accepted that she wasn't going anywhere, that she would follow them anyway. If they wanted or not. She would go where they would go.

"Welcome to Auburn, Nebreska." When Katie woke up she noticed she had missed half of the road trip to Auburn. Dean's face was hanging over hers, apparently he had tried to wake her up.

"You have a serious sleeping problem young lady." He mumbled as she slowly got out of the car still half asleep. She had not told Dean about the nightmares that kept her awake most of the night.

"Whatever Dean, so..can I come with you while you're scouting for information tomorrow?" Katie tried her puppy eye look but Dean didn't react on that.

"No way Katie, you stay put if we can find a damn hotel around here."

"According to the map there's one a few blocks away." Sam interrupted them.

"Not so quick Sammy, we're going to eat first." Dean pointed out a small diner across the street. It looked nice, with a few local people having dinner.

"What, we're doing family dinners now?" Sam grinned and Katie couldn't help but grin too. It was still strange to her to see how much the two of them looked alike.

Katie was studying Dean's face while he was focussing on the menu, he looked really funny when he was trying to concentrate.

"Good evening, can I take your order?" a pretty girl in her early twenties stood next to the table holding a little notepad and a pen. Dean looked up at the sound of her voice, a smirk forming on his face. Sam shook his head.

"Oh yes you can." He said and the tone of his voice made Katie laugh, Dean would flirt shamelessly with any girl he met. The girl didn't smile back at him, apparently she wasn't impressed.

"A veggie burger with French fries please." Katie decided to order first to keep the attention away from Dean's failure at flirting.

"Steak with French fries. Thank you." Sam smiled politely, something the waitress could appreciate more than Dean's smirk.

"I'll take the same." Dean tried to stay low. The girl wrote it all down and turned around, she seemed strangely unhappy in her surroundings. While the three of them waited on their dinner Katie decided to observe the people around her, she figured it might help her brother's with their case. Who knew? She could hear plates fall in the kitchen and someone screaming.

"Damn it! You can't do anything right now can you?!" her eyes focussed on the door that connected the kitchen to the bar. She saw the girl who took their order rush out of the kitchen, she looked weary. Katie figured she was the one who let the plates fall.

"Your steaks." She half-sighed when she put down Sam and Dean's plates. She seemed out of breath.

"Are you alright?" Katie couldn't help but ask, the girl looked at her mildly irritated but touched at the same time.


	2. Heaven Forbid

**A/N: Well, it took a while but here's chapter 2. Please read and review! =)******

***

**Chapter 2 – Heaven forbid**

"I'm fine." The girl replied.

"We were wondering.." Katie decided to take a chance "..do you know anything of the man who got killed a week ago?"

"Why are you asking?" The girl reacted quite fiercely.

"What my sister is trying to ask.." Sam interrupted with his gentle voice "..we saw the story in the papers and wondered if you were all okay..since this is such a small town. Must be pretty upsetting, murder in your own town." Sam looked at Katie with a look that said 'that-is-how-you-do-it'.

"Yeah, it may even be someone you know right? Scary." Dean decided to proceed.

"All I know is that the whole thing was pretty scary..he called his wife telling her he was afraid for no reason and when she came to home, he's dead. Just like that..so weird."

"Weird huh?" Dean acted casual, his face turned into a wondering look. Both Katie and Sam knew what was going on inside his head.

"Listen I have to work.." the girl gestured over her shoulder with her thumb toward the counter.

"Sure, we understand." Sam said, a faint sympathetic smile on his face. The girl turned and didn't show the rest of their meal.

"So it's obviously something supernatural." Dean mused when they walked back to the car after dinner.

"I don't know Dean, it could just be murder."

"The man called his wife telling her he was scared. Why would he just do that?"

"Maybe he could feel something coming." Katie mused with Dean.

"Exactly!" Dean looked at Sam with an "I told you so" look and pointed a hand at his sister. The three of them got in the car and Dean turned on AC/DC's 'shook me all night long', Katie thought she would get used to him singing so loud but she could never hold back her laughter.

"Listen, I was thinking.." Katie tried to start with her sweetest voice. "Maybe I could.."

"No." Dean answered, he knew exactly what she wanted to ask him. She wanted to go hunting with them, at first she didn't want anything to do with hunting, later she was too afraid but now she wanted to help. She wanted to be there as well. She didn't want to wait for her brothers to return, she didn't want to be alone with a great chance of losing her only family.

"Come on Dean! I'm just as old as Sam! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself and I'm not afraid! I came looking for you all by myself too and that went perfect." She shouted from the backseat.

"Chasing us is different than chasing those lunatic and maniac demons Katie. When you found us we didn't want to murder you, most of them _do."_

"I'm not scared, I can help.. I'll fight." Sam never mingled during these discussions, part of him agreed with Katie, but part of him also wanted to protect her from everything he was fighting against. He never wanted this life, and he didn't want her to have to live it.

"Sam, say something!" Katie said from in between the drivers- and passenger seat.

"I think she could go with us Dean. It's not like she's a child. Neither of us are." Sam couldn't look at Dean while saying this.

"See." Katie said self-satisfied.

"Well, you're my little sister and it's my task to protect you."

"And I don't want to sit in and empty motel room waiting for you to come back wondering if you're still alive." Katie said stubbornly taking her place on the backseat, staring out of the window.

***

"Sam did you find out where the library is already?" Dean was getting impatient, he could feel a hunt come and it showed in everything.

"Yeah, it's about a five minute walk from here." Sam said while looking at the screen of his laptop studying the directions.

"Awesome. So you and bookworm over there can look up the dirty details on the murder and maybe some history on this town and I'll ask around." He said looking at Katie who was relieved Dean let her go anywhere after dark while there was a possible demon around. He started putting on his jacket and was searching for his cell phone and keys.

"Yo Sammy, I'll drive down town and you two call me when you get to the library alright?"

"Sure."

"And if _anything _happens, call me immediately." He urged, and then he walked towards his beloved car.

***

"Sam?"

Katie and Sam left for the library just after Dean left. They hadn't spoken a word for almost five minutes now, they were getting close to the library.

"Yes?" Sam looked back at his sister who walked just a few steps behind him.

"How did our parents..?" Sam stopped walking after this question, he quit walking so abruptly Katie almost bumped into him. He looked back over his shoulder into her eyes.

"I need to know the truth. If I'm an orphan I deserve to know how my parents died." She said resolutely. Sam sighed, an obvious gesture but not impatient or unkind, more weary.

"Mom got killed when we were six months, apparently Dean thought you died as well and he never spoke of you after. She was killed by a yellow eyed demon.. a fire in our nursery, dad had been hunting the demon for a while.. after which it kind of hunted us. It tried to kill all three of us and Dean went into a coma after which he miraculously recovered and dad died."

"You think..?" Katie asked not fully able to progress the idea of her parent's deaths.

"I think he traded his life for Dean's, yeah. Ow, we're here. So you remember what our story was?"

"Isabel Branch from Chester, Oregon. I'm your cousin and we're here because the man who got killed was our uncle and the only family left."

"Perfect." Sam's voice was still bitter after what he'd told his sister.

"Hey Sam.." Katie half-whispered just before they walked into the library. "Thank you for telling me."

***

"We're closing in half an hour." Was the first thing they heard when they walked into the library.

"Half an hour?" Sam asked looking at his watch "it's 7 o'clock." He seemed confused.

"Yes well, precautionary closing hours."

"Precautionary?" Katie decided to ask the old lady who clearly seemed irritated by their presence.

"Because of the murder?" Katie wondered if that question was just a little too much.  
Clearly, it was. The old lady looked urgently at her and then took her glasses of her nose. She narrowed her eyes and looked from Sam to Katie, and Katie back to Sam.  
"That's kind of an odd question, young lady. You don't want me to think you have something to do with it, do you?" She put her glasses back on, and Sam looked quite a angrily towards Katie. She felt stupid, finally she could do some research about a case with Sam, and in exact one of the first moments she'd messed up again.  
"Of course she doesn't." Sam used his puppy eye look. "We've read about it in the papers, and all we thought was that it was just a weird situation, that's why my cousin asked about it. We're sorry if we offended you." Katie opened her mouth to say something, but shut it when Sam looked at her very quickly, too quick for the old witch in front of them to see, and she bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything.  
"We're still closing in half an hour." The lady urged again, and she went back to her book.  
Sam walked straightaway towards the computer which was standing at the back of the library, and Katie followed, not knowing exactly what to do.  
"Why don't you search some books about crappy demon things, and I'll consult the internet."  
"Sure." Katie nodded, and she walked away just to come back two seconds later. "Where exactly do I find books about crappy demon things, Sam?"  
She didn't get an answer from Sam though. "Third book-case, second row."  
A familiar looking, brown haired girl walked towards Sam and Katie.


	3. Old friends, new friends

**A/N: And a 'get well soon' to Homesick. Poor girl is even too tired to clean up her own room, so guess that floor is gonna be covered with clothes and stuff a little while longer =).  
****  
Chapter three – Old friend, new friends**

Sam thought she was pretty, absolutely not the type to work at a small town library. Though the girl had quite a harsh look in her eyes, you could see she wasn't the bitter type at all. Maybe even a rather sweet type, caring and kind. But tough, that was for sure.  
"If you see some books with a few thousand layers dust on it, you know you got to have those." She joked. "Why are you guys interested in fantasy creatures?"  
"Why you want to know?" Katie asked straightaway, but again got a warning sign of Sam.  
"Nothing." He tried to sound convincing, Katie could hear it in his voice. "We're um, family, of the person who died. I'm Damien, Damien Scott." Sam shook the girls hand. She was strong. She gave him quite a tough handshake, and smiled while doing it.  
"Lauren Snow, nice to meet you." She turned to Katie, who introduced herself too.  
"Isabel Branch, nice to meet you too." She nodded and went for the books, leaving Lauren behind with a confused look on her face. Katie felt weird about Lauren, it was like she was looking right trough her act, which wasn't very hard because she was the worst actress ever. But still, how could she ever know anything about her?  
She heard Lauren and Sam start conversation, Lauren tried to help Sam who told her on his turn he didn't quite need help. Of course he didn't, he was a straight-A student at college, Dean had told her. Of course he didn't need help with doing research. Just like herself, she was good at it too. It still was a strange idea to her, having a twin brother. Even though they didn't grew up together they were still so much alike, in so many ways. Both of them had been to college where they were straight A students, they were smart and sensitive and had a talent to remember even the littlest things.

***

Katie picked a dusty book from the bookcase Lauren directed her to. It was a book about demons, the title read _Demons, fantasy and real. _

"Right." She groaned as she turned over some pages. There were chapters of two pages, each of them had information about a demon, and whether they were real or not. It even said something about demons from books, like The Lord of the Rings, and she couldn't help but laughing about that. As if Tolkien had known some of those demons really existed. She laughed. Who knew, maybe the world famous writer had been a hunter in his younger years.  
"Isabel?" Lauren's voice didn't reach Katie, who was still laughing about the ridiculous book in her hands.

"Isabel?" Sam called then, and a few seconds later again, but more demanding. "Izzie!"  
And then Katie knew, they were calling for _her._ Right, Isabel Branch, not Katie Ford or Winchester. So many names to respond to.  
"Yeah!" she called back "Sorry!" to Sam. She walked back towards the computer to find Lauren and Sam already at a table with a pile of books.  
"What?"  
"Just wondering if you wanted a cup of tea?" Lauren asked.  
"Thought you we're closing in," She took a glance at her watch, "twenty minutes."  
Lauren laughed. "No, we're not. At least, I'm not. You can stay here until nine, because that's when I leave here." She winked, and then left.  
"Nice girl." Sam looked after her..

"Sam! Don't look at her that way!" Katie groaned. The thought was just too weird, having a brother who looked at the behinds of other girls.. really, really weird.  
"What?! I was looking at her… back."  
"Yeah, right."  
"And maybe a bit lower than her back, her.. legs."  
"Ugh!" Katie groaned. She sat down and started searching in the books Lauren just put down.

***

"Hey guys." Dean's low voice sounded through the almost silent library. "So, found anything here?"He was still wearing his jacket, the car keys to his beloved Impala in his hands. Semi-nonchalant as always.

"Nope." Sam puffed.  
"Nothing." Katie also admitted.  
"So much for the revenge of the nerds then.." Dean laughed, and took a seat at a chair. "Because I did find something."  
"Tell us." Sam demanded, but Dean grinned and waited, playing with his keys.  
"First the magic sentence: Dean you're _tha_ man." But his answer didn't come from Katie or Sam.  
"Dean you're so screwed. You know I only cleaned up the whole library, like, two hours ago? And now look at it!" Lauren yelled at him. "Just for the record; you're so gonna clean that up yourself."

She placed a cup of tea in front of him, apparently she had heard him come in and decided to be polite to him as well.  
"Relax lady. It's just a little bit of good old mud." Dean told her while blinking just a few times too many with his eyes.  
"Oh I'm relaxed already. It's you I worry about." Lauren smiled. "And that's why I give you a cup of tea now, and then some water and a broom. And don't you dare to leave it for me to clean up, 'cause I swear I'll kill you." She tried to sound convincing, but couldn't help thinking he was absolutely cute when he looked confused.  
"I'd like to see you trying." Dean tried.  
'Yeah, and _I'd _like to see you trying to clean up that mess you made." And then Dean didn't know what to say back. He decided just to hold still, maybe it wasn't such a great victory for her if he didn't respond at all. He hoped.  
Lauren turned around to walk back to her desk, but then took the shot of turning back and interrupt their conversation again.  
"Um, Isabel, right?" She urged the girl who claimed to be Isabel Branch.

"Yeah?" She looked up to her, still sitting as Lauren came standing next to her.  
"Um, this might sound really weird but.. are you sure your name is Isabel?"  
Katie's cheeks flushed, and Dean and Sam quickly shared a shocked look. How could Lauren know Katie's name wasn't Isabel? Katie wasn't an Oscar winning actress, but she wasn't _that _bad.  
"What kind of question is that? I'm pretty sure she knows her own name." Dean said frowning, but he knew it didn't sound convincing enough for Lauren.  
"It's just.." she started "You look so much like a girl I used to know from high school.. that look in your eyes, it's just.." Katie tried to frown confused.  
"Yeah! Exactly! That look!" Lauren shrieked. "It's just like a girl I used to know, maybe you know her? Her name is Katie, Katie Ford." Lauren was almost jumping up and down by now.  
For a moment everyone kept quiet, waiting for an answer from Katie. She didn't respond, she was trying to think of an answer and at the same time she tried to figure out who this girl was.  
Dean kicked her under the table to force an answer out of her, hesitantly she tried to stutter a reply.  
"No, I'm Isabel.. Isabel, Branch from Chester." She mumbled, cheeks still flushed. Gosh, that sounded convincing. If that Lauren girl really knew her then.. from where? High school she said but..  
"Oh my god!" In a smooth move Katie stood up from her chair and took a step towards Lauren to give a good look at her.  
"Lauren! My god, I do know you! You've changed so much! You were blonde in high school!" She yelled.  
And then it hit her. While Lauren embraced her happily Katie knew she screwed up terribly. Now Lauren knew she wasn't Isabel, she was Katie. Katie Winchester, no where near from Chester.

"God, why didn't you tell me you were Katie Ford in the first place?" Lauren asked.  
Katie took a quick glance at Sam and Dean, who were looking at her in the most shocking way ever. Well, Katie thought, she already screwed up anyway so why didn't she tell Lauren just a little bit more?  
"Winchester." She corrected. "It's Katie Winchester now. And these boys here are Sam and Dean."  
"Hi." Sam greeted her, again. "Sorry about the whole My-name-is-Damien-thing. We always use fake names when we get into little towns like these, annoying family and stuff.. or something like that."  
"Okay..So Winchester huh? So you're married to one of them?" Lauren pointed at Sam and Dean. Katie had to laugh, the thought of being married to either her big brother or her twin brother was too weird even though she only knew them for a couple of months.

"I'm far too young to get married. They're my brothers."

"Yeah, we're all single." Dean said dubiously lifting an eyebrow while looking at Lauren.

"Brothers? You don't have brothers." Lauren seemed even more confused now.

"Well..it turned out I was adopted. I found a letter from my birth dad and it mentioned Sam and Dean, I decided to leave home and look for them and I found them." Katie talked fast without stopping for air. She still found it hard that her 'mother' had lied about all this for over 23 years.

"And now you're what..?"

"Roadtripping, to get to know each other." It was the first good lie Katie had ever told, and it even sounded convincing. Maybe because it felt like a roadtrip to her, she didn't hunt…not yet. She would convince Dean to take her with him soon enough.

"Roadtrip? And you decided to come to Auburn." Lauren laughed but didn't talk about it any further.

"So..brothers." she mumbled while she sat down to join the three of them. "You look good though, did you gain weight?" Katie's eyes dropped down focussing on the cup of tea on the table. Both Sam and Dean tried to look at her without her noticing it, she decided to ignore them.

"Yeah..I did." Katie sounded as if she wanted to drop the subject and Lauren noticed, her eyes shifted from Dean to Sam and to Katie and she didn't mention the subject again.

"So, where are you staying?" Lauren decided to loosen things up. Dean made himself comfortable in the chair, his eyes on Lauren.

"The Mermaid motel, not a real original name." Dean used a smile he always used to impress or impose people, it was attractive but anyone who knew Dean for a while could see right through it.

"Pretty good motel, I used to stay there before I decided to rent an apartment here."

"So what brought you here then, if you used to go to high school with Katie?" Sam was genuinely interested.

"My dad died, I kind of grew up in a village nearby and I had to come here to arrange his funeral.. after that I kind of got stuck here."

"I'm sorry." Katie said, "you're dad was the only family left am I right?" Lauren nodded and smiled the pain away.

"We know where you're coming from, our dad died a few months ago..just before Katie here found us." Dean said, he tried to keep it light but the look in his eyes was one of a broken man.

"I'm sorry, did you ever get to know him Katie?"

"Lauren we're closing!" the librarian called again as she came walking toward the table. "And clean that up!" the older woman pointed toward the mud on the ground. Lauren got up so fast it was almost as if she was afraid of the woman.

"I'll do it, if you'll give me a broom.." Dean got up just as quick and used his imposing smile again, his eyes twinkling, Sam shook his head but Katie was too absentminded to notice. Lauren nodded and turned around to go and get a broom.

"So what I found out.." Dean turned around and leaned on the table looking Sam and Katie in the eye.

"..the man, Morrison, was badly abused but died from heart failure..according to the local doctor he was –and I quote- 'scared to death' of course the old man didn't know what that would mean for us, so after that I decided to run by Morrison's house, his wife lives with her mother so the house was empty. But I noticed a temperature drop from over 20 degrees, the place was damn freezing." He whispered the last sentence.

"So what do you think, revengeful spirit?" Sam mumbled. Katie coughed and the boys looked up while Lauren came walking back.

"Talking about me?" she joked while she gave Dean a broom and a bucket of hot water.

"What else?" he smiled and went to clean up the library hall.  
Sam went to help him, since he was tired and wanted to go back to the motel he didn't want to be stuck in the library for an half hour which Dean probably needed to clean up.  
"So, you're sure neither of them is yours?"  
"Lauren!' Katie gasped "They're my _brothers!_"  
"Not married?"  
"Uh, _no." _Katie replied in disgust.  
"Ow, okay.. Can I have both of them then?"

***

"So we'll go back to Morrison's house tomorrow during the day to check the place out, Katie you'll go and ask around town, please don't try to screw up like you did today." It was meant as a joke but Katie hardly found it funny.

"Sure." She mumbled again absentmindedly, truth was that being reminded of her past today made her uncomfortable.

"Hey Kate, you alright?" Sam asked while she walked toward the bathroom.

"Perfect." She mumbled and smiled faintly.

"If we find out anything tomorrow I suggest to return to Morrison's house after dinner.." Dean went on explaining the plan.

***

Lauren never thought of anything supernatural causing Jack Morrison's death, but if she was right about who Sam, Dean and Katie really where, there definitely was something supernatural going on. A road trip Katie had said, could be, but the sons of John Winchester couldn't be anything else than hunters. John had been one of the best, his death had shocked the entire hunting world. Lauren could remember her father hunting with John when she was young, when her mother was still alive.

Since Dean and Sam apparently were looking around town to see if they could find anything, she decided to look up some information for herself.

"Auburn police station how may I help you?"

"This is Alison Morrison,"

"Jack Morrison's daughter?" the police man asked.

"Yes, I was wondering if you found anything new on my father's death."

"Nothing new, we've told your mother everything we knew this morning."

"I haven't seen my mother, she's been busy arranging things for the funeral..last minute things you know."

"I understand, well…" the police man started to tell her about Jack Morrison's death, lying was too easy Lauren thought.

***

"Katie?" Katie didn't react at first, she thought everyone was asleep. She could hear Dean mumble in his sleep and waited for Sam to think she was sleeping.

"Katie I know you're not sleeping." Sam sighed. Katie sighed as well and didn't turn around.

"What did Lauren mean with "did you _gain _weight"?" Surely Sam would have noticed the comment of Lauren on Katie's weight. He was smart and wouldn't let things like that be unnoticed for long. Katie sighed again, not fully willing to tell her twin brother about her past.

"just before I went to college things were," she paused "difficult." She half whispered so she wouldn't wake up Dean. Talking about this would be easier with Sam than with Dean she imagined.

"what do you mean?" she could hear he sat up straight now.

"I suffered from anorexia nervosa." The word was out. It was silent for a while, she could hear Sam's breathing.

"Why?" he sounded shocked "You're perfect." Katie half smiled because of the compliment.

"I was sixteen when I had my first boyfriend, and my last.." she closed her eyes for a moment "..he turned out not to be such a good boyfriend."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked when Katie didn't continue.

"He hit me. The first time because I dropped his disc man, I thought it was just that one time.. but he started hitting me more often, for no reason. He.." she closed her eyes again to push away the tears in her eyes, she never talked about this after it happened. "he not only abused me physically but mentally as well. I soon stopped eating because I couldn't, after a while I noticed that eating was the one thing I could still control in my life..I never felt good enough because of him, not eating made me feel more worthy..like I was doing something good. I was stupid and wrong of course." She finally turned around and sat up to face Sam in the dark room, her eyes adjusted to the dark fast enough so she could see the contours of his face.

"Do you still.." he didn't dare to finish his question.

"No." Katie answered quickly " no, I quit after I ended up in the hospital, they found out I was being abused and that summer after highschool I went to rehab, I haven't spoken to Matthew ever again, and I started over at Yale. I never relapsed, my eating habits are normal except for me being a vegetarian but that's nothing special.." she tried to laugh, not successful.

"God Katie, I'm so sorry.." his hand rubbed the skin of his neck something he did when he felt uncomfortable " I don't know what to say."

" You don't have to say anything..just don't say anything to Dean alright?"

" Why?" Sam was confused.

" I don't want him to think I'm a helpless little girl." She got out of bed " I need some air, I'll just be outside for a minute okay?"

" Sure."

***

Katie was startled when someone opened the door.

" Sam I told you I'll just be a minute.."

" It's me." Dean's voice sounded more serious than she'd ever heard it.

" Ow.." she tried to smile.

"You should wear some more clothes when you're just standing outside like this." Katie rolled her eyes at this comment. Typically Dean. The first time they met –before he knew she was his sister- he tried to hit on her as well. Anything feminine caught his attention.

" Listen," serious again " I heard you and Sam talk, Katie." Katie could feel panic through her body, now Dean would never take her with them on a hunting gig. But something in his voice calmed her down.

"You should've told me, you're my sister Katie. I know we don't know each other that well, and that you and Sam get along better than we do but..I want you to know you can talk to me. About anything."

" I know it's just..I don't want you to.."

" Think you're a helpless girl? Yeah, heard that too." He smiled and shook his head, when he lifted his head again he stared into the black distance. " Damn anyone for hurting you. If dad would've just kept you with us..I could've prevented this. If he hadn't told me you died in that fire, I could've been there for you. I could've kicked that guys ass, big time." Both Katie and Dean laughed, they knew Dean would win that fight without doubt.

" Come inside, it's not safe outside in the dark." He laid his hands on her shoulders and starting guiding her inside.

" Thanks Dean."

" No problem, kiddo."


End file.
